


and at the gates does Thomas ask to see my hands

by ShyAudacity



Series: brown eyed boy drinks his misery [2]
Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Comforting Jughead, Comforting Veronica, Crying, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Gun Violence, Gunshot Wounds, Hospitals, Hugs, Hurt Archie, Hurt Fred Andrews, Hurt/Comfort, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, M/M, Near Death Experiences, Panic Attacks, Post-Finale, Post-Season/Series 01, Protective Jughead Jones, Queerplatonic Relationships, Robbery, Trauma, could be gay if you squint, ill add more later
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-12
Updated: 2017-05-12
Packaged: 2018-10-30 23:20:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10887000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShyAudacity/pseuds/ShyAudacity
Summary: He walks out of the bathroom and the first thing he sees is a man in a mask standing on the counter, pointing a gun in Pop Tate’s face. Archie has half a mind to move, to tackle the guy and restraint him. But then he makes eye contact with his father across the restaurant, who gives him a look that says: for the love of God, I beg you, do not move, do not put yourself in danger.After that everything seems to move in slow motion, like a stock photo compilation capturing the scene in front of him.Fred Andrews stands in the aisle of the restaurant. Click.The masked robber jumps down from the counter top and points his gun at Fred. Click.A shot goes off. Click.Archie moves half a second too late and the bullet pierces Fred just below the ribs. Click.ORHere's what happened directly after episode thirteen.





	and at the gates does Thomas ask to see my hands

**Author's Note:**

> It's five in the morning and I wrote this in one sitting directly after watching the finale, please appreciate me.

When he had walked into Pop’s that morning, Archie had been on cloud nine. He felt as though the world was on his side for the first time in months. He’d just spent the night with a beautiful girl, whom of which he liked very much, he was sure nothing could ruin his mood. Yet, as he was in the bathroom washing up, he heard the yelling start, and something in him told Archie that everything was about to go wrong.

He was right. He walks out of the bathroom and the first thing he sees is a man in a mask standing on the counter, pointing a gun in Pop Tate’s face. Archie has half a mind to move, to tackle the guy and restraint him. But then he makes eye contact with his father across the restaurant, who gives him a look that says: _for the love of God, I beg you, do not move, do not put yourself in danger_.

After that everything seems to move in slow motion, like a stock photo compilation capturing the scene in front of him.

Fred Andrews stands in the aisle of the restaurant. _Click._

The masked robber jumps down from the countertop and points his gun at Fred. _Click._

A shot goes off. _Click._

Archie moves half a second too late and the bullet pierces Fred just below the ribs. _Click._

As the masked man runs out of the restaurant, Archie rushes towards his father, easing him to the ground. Fred grips at his son’s arms while Archie applies pressure to the wound, blood seeping out between his fingers and puddling on the floor beneath them. He hears words swirling around his ears but doesn’t fully realize that they’re coming out of his mouth.

“Dad? Oh my god, Dad. No, no look at me, just keep looking at me, alright? You gotta stay awake, p-please just stay with me, okay? Dad, c’mon say something.”

Fred doesn’t answer, just looks up at his son with glazed over eyes until the paramedics arrive. He rides with them to the hospital, barely registering anything that’s happening around him. Archie hardly notices as the Paramedic sitting next to him puts a shock blanket around his shoulders. He hardly notices as all of the machines starting beeping at once and his father flatlines right in front of him. By the time they’ve revived him, Archie isn’t aware that any time has passed.

They pull up to the emergency room shortly after that. Archie stumbles out and trails after the gurney, never once taking his eyes off his father. As he gets inside, a nurse stops him almost instantly, telling him that he can’t go any further, that he has to sit in the waiting room and wait for a doctor to come talk to him about his father’s condition.

When the nurse walks away, Archie falls to his knees in a second. He begins to sob as soon as his knees meet the tile, loud and unapologetic. He feels like someone is hammering at the space between his ribs with a pick axe. Every breath comes out in a choking matter. He doesn’t even realize that he’s called Veronica until he hears a distorted version of her voice speaking in his ear.

_“Archie? Arch, what’s wrong? Are you okay?”_

“R-Ronnie.” He gasps.

_“Hey, hey I’m here. Talk to me, what’s going on?”_

Archie isn’t sure how he does it, but he manages to get out the words _Dad_ and _shot_ and _hospital._ Veronica says she’ll be there as soon as she can before she hangs up. He lets out a shuddering breath, trying to put an end to the panic attack that he’s having. He’s still in distress when she arrives, hell he hasn’t even moved.

Veronica sees him as soon as she walks in the doors. Archie is on his knees in front of the waiting room entryway, his whole body shaking. She gets one of his arms over her shoulder and somehow, she gets him into a chair. When she takes a seat next to him, it’s a matter of seconds before his head is in her lap. A whine leaves his throat and her heart sinks into her stomach at the sound.

“Shh, Archie it’s okay, I’m here. It’ll be okay.” She doesn’t believe the words that are leaving her mouth, and she knows that Archie probably doesn’t either. But someone has to say them, someone has to do _something_. As he comes down from his panic attack, she runs her hands through his hair and pulls out her phone. Veronica knows exactly who she needs to call.  

*

Jughead wakes up on the couch next to Betty. After the Serpents had left the night before, they had turned on a movie and fell asleep cuddling on the couch. He feels around on the floor for his phone, and is surprised when he finds that he has eight missed calls. One of them is from Archie, another one is from his case worker, and the other six are all from Veronica. He sits up and calls her back, a feeling of worry growing in the pit of his stomach.

_“Finally, I’ve been trying to get a hold of you and Betty for over an hour.”_

“Sorry, I was asleep until a minute ago and Betty is here with me. What’s up? Is everything okay?”

_“Mr. Andrews was shot this morning, something went down at Pop’s and he…”_

Jughead fails to comprehend anything that she says after that. The phone clatters to the floor as he rushes to pull clean clothes out of his bag, moving on auto pilot.

Betty who had awoken when Jughead sat up, grabs the phone from off the floor and speaks to Veronica, throwing a hand over her mouth when the raven-haired girl tells her the situation at hand. She tells Veronica that they’ll be at the hospital as soon as they can before she gets off the couch, straightening out her dress.

Two minutes later, Betty and Jughead take off towards the hospital in his father’s truck. Both of them are disheveled and feeling unnerved, but they speed the entire drive over to the Emergency Room. Jughead barely takes the time to park properly before the two of them run inside. They spot Veronica as soon as they’re in the door.

Veronica is sitting with a passed-out Archie in her lap, looking at him with a sense of dread.

“V, are you okay?” Betty breathes out.

She looks up as the pair comes towards, and nods.

“Yeah, I’m okay.” She responds. “But Archie definitely isn’t, you should have seen the look of terror that was on his face when I got here, it was awful. He calmed down once I got him into the chair, he passed out shortly after that. Guys, I don’t know what to do, this is bad.”    

Jughead crouches in front of Archie, squeezing his shoulder gently. He startles awake in less than a second, his eyes darting around the room.

“Hey, hey bud it’s okay.” Jughead says in a soft tone, moving to sit on the opposite side of his friend. “You’re okay, alright? Nothing is gonna hurt you here.”

Archie sits up, his eyes puffy and his lip trembling. “Someone hurt my dad, Juggie.”

“I know, c’mere.” Jughead throws an arm around the red head’s shoulder and pulls him closer.

Archie hides his face in his brother’s shoulder and cries again. He had hoped that this whole thing was just some bad dream. He thought he would wake up next to Veronica and everything would be fine. He wishes that he could turn back time and trade places with his dad, wishes his dad wasn’t hurt. Archie wishes that all of it would just _stop_.

“Arch?” Betty says sheepishly. “Archie, I need to call your mom, she should know what happened. Is her phone number still the same?”

He nods, reaching for Veronica with his good hand. Veronica takes his hand in return, despite it being covered in dried blood. Betty walks out of the room after that, already chatting away to someone on the other end of her phone.

Sheriff Keller strolls into the waiting room not even ten minutes later, his sight set on Archie.

“Archie, son, I’m going to need you to come with me.” The older man says. “We’re going to have to ask you a few questions about the robbery that occurred at Pop’s this morning.”

Archie flinches, curling even more into Jughead’s side.

“What? No way.” Veronica says defiantly, standing up. “Archie has been through enough today as it is. You don’t need to make it worse by shoving a hundred questions down his throat. Can’t this wait until later?”

Sheriff Keller sighs, taking a long look Archie. “I’ll come back tomorrow morning. Keep me posted on how Fred Andrews is doing, alright?”

“Yes sir.” She says as she watches him walk away. Veronica takes her spot back at Archie’s left side, not hesitating to weave their fingers together.

It feels like a lifetime before anyone comes out to talk to them about how Fred Andrews is doing. But finally, three hours after arriving, a woman in a white coat that reads _Dr. Amelia Reynolds, Head of Trauma_ waltzes out of the emergency room doors and heads straight for Archie.

“Hey, look.” Jughead says softly, pulling Archie out of his haze.

Archie stumbles as he gets to his feet, his fixes his shirt as best he can.

“Are you the next of kin for Fredrick Andrews?”

He nods furiously. “I’m his son, how is he? Is he okay?”

“He’ll be just fine,” she says, resting a hand on his shoulder. “We had to do emergency surgery to remove the bullet fragments from his side, and everything went as well as could be expected. I’m going to warn you now; this recovery process isn’t going to be easy for him. He’s going to need a lot of physical therapy, it’ll be a while before he’s back on his feet again.”

Archie nods again. “I-I understand. Can I go see him?”

“Of course, they’re moving him up to the ICU now, but I’ll get the room number from the nurse at the front desk. Your dad is a lucky guy, kiddo. Most people don’t make it out alive after injuries like this.”

He feels some of his worry ebb away as the doctor walks off. Jughead grips his shoulder, giving him a small smile before steering him in the direction of the elevator. Archie feels his heart start to race the closer he gets to the room, beating faster with every step. Once they arrive, he almost doesn’t want to go in, afraid to face the facts.

“Will you guys come in with me?” he asks, turning to Jughead and Veronica.

“Yeah, sure thing.”

“Actually,” Veronica says, taking a step back. “How about just you two go in for now? I wouldn’t want to intrude.”

Jughead speaks up before Archie can say anything. “What? No, you should come in. Besides your Archie’s uh… you’re his something. Look, you should come in. He needs you, too.”

“Please, Ronnie.” He says, gripping her hand tighter than before.

She grips back, looking at him fondly. “Okay, I’m ready when you are, Arch.”  

Archie nods, breathing deeply before he pushes the door open. His legs nearly give out when he sees his dad attached to all of the machines, wires leading to places that he’s glad he can’t see. There’s a tube going down his throat and another sticking out of his hand. Jughead and Veronica are quick to get him into a chair, placing it close to the bed. Once he’s in reach, using his good hand, Archie goes straight for his Dad’s hand that is closest to him, holding it against his face.

“Hey, Dad.” He chokes out. “Pardon my French, but you scared the shit out of me.”

Veronica and Jughead both laugh lightly, she squeezes his shoulder.

“We’ll give you a minute alone with him, okay Arch?”

He nods, and the dark-haired pair exits the room quietly. They watch him from the doorway, speaking in a quiet tone.

“He going to need you, you know that?” Jughead says to her.

“No,” she replies, giving him a small smile. “He’s going to need all of us.”

*

Fred Andrews wakes up early the next morning. Not only surprised that he made it out alive, but surprised that his son is sitting next to him, mostly unscathed. As he watches his son sleep before he falls back under, he’s grateful that Archie has someone, or maybe even a few, watching out for him.

**Author's Note:**

> I had a headache for a solid two hours after the episode ended, I swear.
> 
> Thanks for reading! I hope that you liked this, if you did please feel free to leave a kudos or a comment. If you have a prompt/request you can leave it in the comments or come find me at my riverdale blog on tumblr as thejugheadchronicles. Thanks again for reading, have a great day!


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